✯ Prologue ✯
“Teacher!”
“Yes, Masha?”
“Look! The apples are all red and ripe!”
The child who ran to Hannah with a bright smile and hugged her was nine-year-old Masha.
She had soft, fluffy red hair and sparkling yellow eyes.
Her round, rosy cheeks made her look incredibly cute.
As she bounced over and tugged at Hannah’s skirt, she looked like a little angel who had just come down from heaven.
“So, shall we have the apples we pick ourselves for today’s snack?”
“Yes! I’d love that!”
“Let’s invite Jeremy and Ian too.”
At those words, Masha frowned a little. Jeremy and Ian were children who lived with her at the temple orphanage.
“What’s wrong? Did you two fight?”
For a moment, Hannah wondered if they had argued without her knowing.
“No! I was just worried there would be fewer apples for us!”
Masha quickly explained before tightly hugging Hannah around the waist and rubbing her face against her.
She was so adorable.
“There are plenty of apples, so don’t worry.”
Hannah gently patted Masha’s red hair and looked toward the two boys playing with dirt in the distance.
“Ian! Jeremy! Come over here! Let’s pick apples together!”
At Hannah’s call, the two boys hurried over.
“I’ll pick the most! Can I pick the green ones too?”
“There aren’t any worms, right?”
“Teacher! Teacher! Will you make apple pie too?”
The children surrounded her from both sides, chattering nonstop.
Their voices were noisy like little sparrows, but they were also lovely.
“Yes, I will. While I hang up these blankets, you three have to pick as many apples as you can. Okay?”
As soon as she pointed toward the tree, the children ran off excitedly. They had been waiting impatiently for the apples to ripen.
Watching them argue over who would pick more made Hannah smile.
“How can they be this cute?”
Hannah took a clean blanket cover out of the laundry basket and shook it open.
Even while hanging the laundry, her eyes stayed on the children.
“Just look at those innocent faces.”
Who would ever imagine…
…that those children would one day become the villains who destroyed the Empire?
That was right.
Those innocent and adorable children were the three main villains of the novel [The World of Brilliant Villains], the world Hannah had possessed.
Nine-year-old Masha Plet.
A mad magician who would create a dark magic organization and try to bring about the end of the world through black magic.
Nine-year-old Jeremy Arlande.
The future leader of the underworld, a villain who would commit every crime imaginable for money.
Ten-year-old Ian.
The future Emperor, a psychopathic tyrant who would turn the Empire into a living hell.
“Teacher! I picked this apple well, didn’t I?”
Jeremy shouted from far away while holding up an apple.
“Yes! You did a great job!”
Who would have thought that the same hands picking apples now would one day be cutting off people’s heads?
Even so, Hannah thought the children seemed to be growing up better than expected.
Maybe this was the power of proper education.
“Shall we head back now?”
After emptying the laundry basket, Hannah walked toward the children.
Then she noticed the drawing Ian and Jeremy had made in the dirt earlier.
Beside the stick they had used like a pencil was a rough drawing of a person.
The person’s arms and legs had all been separated.
“…”
Well…
Children that age sometimes drew strange things.
Pretending not to notice, Hannah rubbed dirt over the drawing with her foot until it disappeared.
Then she continued walking.
“Come on! Let’s go!”
Her peaceful days with these adorable children had begun only a few days earlier… in the most ridiculous way imaginable.
